Daily stories from Middletown's 366-Year History

1898: Henry Clay Work Monument Planned

“The movement in G. A. R. circles to erect a monument over the grave of Henry Clay Work, at Hartford, Conn., revives the fact that his father was once confined in the Missouri penitentiary on the charge of aiding slaves to escape from the state of Missouri to Illinois. When the elder Work was released one of the conditions of his pardon was that he should return to the state of Connecticut, whence he came originally, and remain there for the rest of his natural life. This obligation he faithfully kept. The son, Henry C. Work, was born at Middletown, Conn., and saw the end of American slavery, while hundreds of thousands of soldiers and citizens sang his “Marching Through Georgia” and “The Year of Jubilee.”– From The Scranton Republican (Scranton, Penn.), Feb. 15, 1898.